Neuroproteomics in Paving the Pathway for Drug Abuse Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 256-266
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naveed ◽  
Attha Tallat ◽  
Ayesha Butt ◽  
Maria Khalid ◽  
Marium Shehzadi ◽  
...  

Neuroproteomics, as a sub-discipline of proteomics, has enlightened the pathway for the study of different complicated diseases and brain disorders. Since four decades, various analytical and quantitative techniques have been used to cure problems related to brain and memory. Brain has a complex structure with various cells and cell types, the expressing proteins and suppressing factors too. Drug addiction is one of the main health concerns as it causes physiological changes in brain and affects its different parts. Some of these drugs like cocaine, marijuana, nicotine and alcohol not only affect memory and brain cells but also lead to expression and suppression of unwanted and beneficial proteins respectively. A variety of techniques involving separation techniques, quantification techniques and analytical techniques are used along with the combination of bioinformatics and magical tools for analyzing different aspects of brain parts especially proteome of the brain cells. Moreover, different animal models preferably those resembling human beings are routinely used in neuroproteomics to study the effects of different drugs on the brain proteome. Different experiments have already been performed by the researchers on drug abuse that helped massively in estimating not only the effects of drug addiction on the brain of highly complex organisms (human beings) but also to propose different therapeutics.

Development ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 104 (Supplement) ◽  
pp. 209-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antone G. Jacobson

Well before the somites form, the paraxial mesoderm of vertebrate embryos is segmented into somitomeres. When newly formed, somitomeres are patterned arrays of mesenchymal cells, arranged into squat, bilaminar discs. The dorsal and ventral faces of these discs are composed of concentric rings of cells. Somitomeres are formed along the length of the embryo during gastrulation, and in the segmental plate and tail bud at later stages. They form in strict cranial to caudal order. They appear in bilateral pairs, just lateral to Hensen's node in the chick embryo. When the nervous system begins to form, the brain parts and neuromeres are in a consistent relationship to the somitomeres. Somitomeres first appear in the head, and the cranial somitomeres do not become somites, but disperse to contribute to the head the same cell types contributed by somites in the trunk region. In the trunk and tail, somitomeres gradually condense and epithelialize to become somites. Models of vertebrate segmentation must now take into account the early presence of these new morphological units, the somitomeres. Somitomeres were discovered in the head of the chick embryo (Meier, 1979), with the use of stereo scanning electron microscopy. The old question of whether the heads of the craniates are segmented is now settled, at least for the paraxial mesoderm. Somitomeres have now been identified in the embryos of a chick, quail, mouse, snapping turtle, newt, anuran (Xenopus) and a teleost (the medaka). In all forms studied, the first pair of somitomeres abut the prosencephalon but caudal to that, for each tandem pair of somitomeres in the amniote and teleost, there is but one somitomere in the amphibia. The mesodermal segments of the shark embryo are arranged like those of the amphibia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (20) ◽  
pp. 2372-2384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria C. Blanco-Gandía ◽  
José Miñarro ◽  
Marta Rodríguez-Arias

Eating is necessary for survival, but it is also one of the great pleasures enjoyed by human beings. Research to date shows that palatable food can be rewarding in a similar way to drugs of abuse, indicating considerable comorbidity between eating disorders and substance-use disorders. Analysis of the common characteristics of both types of disorder has led to a new wave of studies proposing a Gateway Theory of food as a vulnerability factor that modulates the development of drug addiction. The homeostatic and hedonic mechanisms of feeding overlap with some of the mechanisms implicated in drug abuse and their interaction plays a crucial role in the development of drug addiction. Studies in animal models have shown how palatable food sensitizes the reward circuit and makes individuals more sensitive to other substances of abuse, such as cocaine or alcohol. However, when palatable food is administered continuously as a model of obesity, the consequences are different, and studies provide controversial data. In the present review, we will cover the main homeostatic and hedonic mechanisms that regulate palatable food intake behavior and will explain, using animal models, how different types of diet and their intake patterns have direct consequences on the rewarding effects of psychostimulants and ethanol.


Antioxidants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Ji Young Kim ◽  
Jin-Hee Kim ◽  
Yong-Dae Kim ◽  
Je Hoon Seo

Oligodendrocytes, myelin-forming cells in the brain, are vulnerable to oxidative stress. Recent work indicates that air pollution causes demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis. However, little is known about the mechanism of toxicity of ultrafine particulate matters (PMs) to oligodendrocytes. Here, we aimed to determine whether oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) and mature oligodendrocytes (mOLs) are more vulnerable to ultrafine urban PMs (uf-UPs) than other types of brain cells and damage to adult OPCs and mOLs in the mouse brain exposed to uf-UPs. For in vitro experiments, following exposure to various concentrations (2, 20, and 200 μg/mL) of uf-UPs, we measured survival rates, the amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the total antioxidant capacities (TACs) of brain cells isolated from neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats. For animal experiments, after a four-week exposure to a uf-UP suspension (20 μL, 0.4 mg/mL), we enumerated the number of damaged cells and typed damaged cells in the white matter of the cerebellum of uf-UP-exposed mice. MTT assays and Hoechst staining demonstrated that OPCs and mOLs were more vulnerable to uf-UP-induced damage than astrocytes and cortical neurons at 2, 20, and 200 μg/mL of uf-UPs examined in this study (p < 0.05). Damage to OPCs and mOLs depended on uf-UP concentration. DCF assays and DHE staining indicated that the amount of ROS generated in OPCs and mOLs was significantly higher than in other brain cell types (p < 0.05). In contrast, TAC values in OPCs and mOLs were significantly lower than those of other brain cell types (p < 0.05). Fluoro-Jade B (FJB)-positive cells in the cerebellar white matter of the uf-UP-exposed group were significantly greater in number relative to the control group. Double immunofluorescence indicated that FJB-positive cells are NG2-positive adult OPCs and carbon anhydrase II-positive mOLs. Taken together, our findings suggest that oxidative stress induced by uf-UPs in the brain impairs adult OPCs and mOLs, causing demyelination and reducing the capacity for remyelination.


Author(s):  
Hannah R. Brown ◽  
Tammy L. Donato ◽  
Halldor Thormar

Measles virus specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) has been found in the brains of patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a slowly progressing disease of the central nervous system (CNS) in children. IgG/albumin ratios indicate that the antibodies are synthesized within the CNS. Using the ferret as an animal model to study the disease, we have been attempting to localize the Ig's in the brains of animals inoculated with a cell associated strain of SSPE. In an earlier report, preliminary results using Protein A conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (PrAPx) (Dynatech Diagnostics Inc., South Windham, ME.) to detect antibodies revealed the presence of immunoglobulin mainly in antibody-producing plasma cells in inflammatory lesions and not in infected brain cells.In the present experiment we studied the brain of an SSPE ferret with neutralizing antibody titers of 1:1024 in serum and 1:512 in CSF at time of sacrifice 7 months after i.c. inoculation with SSPE measles virus-infected cells. The animal was perfused with saline and portions of the brain and spinal cord were immersed in periodate-lysine-paraformaldehyde (P-L-P) fixative. The ferret was not perfused with fixative because parts of the brain were used for virus isolation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
Faiqua Tahjiba

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the actual condition of the students of University of Rajshahi (RU) regarding drug abuse and addiction. Using case study method the research was conducted with four objectives: (a) to find out how respondents began drug abuse; (b) to discover the causes of their drug addiction; (c) to understand the process of their drug abuse; and (d) to find out the economic, social and health effects of drug abuse. Methods: Case study method was used in this research. Through snowball sampling 18 drug- addicted students of RU were selected as respondents. In-depth interview with a schedule was used to collect data from the respondents in January 2019. Results: Findings of the study show that the causes of drug addiction included curiosity, frustration, friends’ request, neglect from family and friends etc. The drugs which they usually abused were Yaba, Phensydyle, Ganja (Weed), Chuani etc. Their average monthly expenditure for collecting drugs was in between Taka 8,000-10,000. They collected those drugs from rickshaw pullers at different points within the campus and from Mizaner Mor, Budhpara slum and other places outside the campus. The respondents opined that drugs were available if sufficient money could be spent. The respondents had senior and junior fellow students and local boys as companions while taking drugs. Most of them faced physical problems after taking drugs, and some of them tried to get rid of this curse of drug addiction. Conclusion: The findings of this research show that the rate of drug addiction among the students of RU was quite alarming. Therefore, all stakeholders including the students, guardians, teachers, university authority, the law makers and law enforcing agencies, researchers, civil society, NGO’s and the state must come forward together to combat this formidable foe.


1970 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muskinul Fuad

The education system in Indonesia emphasize on academic intelligence, whichincludes only two or three aspects, more than on the other aspects of intelligence. For thatreason, many children who are not good at academic intelligence, but have good potentials inother aspects of intelligence, do not develop optimally. They are often considered and labeledas "stupid children" by the existing system. This phenomenon is on the contrary to the theoryof multiple intelligences proposed by Howard Gardner, who argues that intelligence is theability to solve various problems in life and produce products or services that are useful invarious aspects of life.Human intelligence is a combination of various general and specific abilities. Thistheory is different from the concept of IQ (intelligence quotient) that involves only languageskills, mathematical, and spatial logics. According to Gardner, there are nine aspects ofintelligence and its potential indicators to be developed by each child born without a braindefect. What Gardner suggested can be considered as a starting point to a perspective thatevery child has a unique individual intelligence. Parents have to treat and educate theirchildren proportionally and equitably. This treatment will lead to a pattern of education that isfriendly to the brain and to the plurality of children’s potential.More than the above points, the notion that multiple intelligences do not just comefrom the brain needs to be followed. Humans actually have different immaterial (spiritual)aspects that do not refer to brain functions. The belief in spiritual aspects and its potentialsmeans that human beings have various capacities and they differ from physical capacities.This is what needs to be addressed from the perspective of education today. The philosophyand perspective on education of the educators, education stakeholders, and especially parents,are the first major issue to be addressed. With this step, every educational activity andcommunication within the family is expected to develop every aspect of children'sintelligence, especially the spiritual intelligence.


Author(s):  
Shoaib Amin Banday ◽  
Mohammad Khalid Pandit

Introduction: Brain tumor is among the major causes of morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. According to National Brain Tumor Foundation (NBTS), the death rate has nearly increased by as much as 300% over last couple of decades. Tumors can be categorized as benign (non-cancerous) and malignant (cancerous). The type of the brain tumor significantly depends on various factors like the site of its occurrence, its shape, the age of the subject etc. On the other hand, Computer Aided Detection (CAD) has been improving significantly in recent times. The concept, design and implementation of these systems ascend from fairly simple ones to computationally intense ones. For efficient and effective diagnosis and treatment plans in brain tumor studies, it is imperative that an abnormality is detected at an early stage as it provides a little more time for medical professionals to respond. The early detection of diseases has predominantly been possible because of medical imaging techniques developed from past many decades like CT, MRI, PET, SPECT, FMRI etc. The detection of brain tumors however, has always been a challenging task because of the complex structure of the brain, diverse tumor sizes and locations in the brain. Method: This paper proposes an algorithm that can detect the brain tumors in the presence of the Radio-Frequency (RF) inhomoginiety. The algorithm utilizes the Mid Sagittal Plane as a landmark point across which the asymmetry between the two brain hemispheres is estimated using various intensity and texture based parameters. Result: The results show the efficacy of the proposed method for the detection of the brain tumors with an acceptable detection rate. Conclusion: In this paper, we have calculated three textural features from the two hemispheres of the brain viz: Contrast (CON), Entropy (ENT) and Homogeneity (HOM) and three parameters viz: Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Correlation Co-efficient (CC), and Integral of Absolute Difference (IAD) from the intensity distribution profiles of the two brain hemispheres to predict any presence of the pathology. First a Mid Sagittal Plane (MSP) is obtained on the Magnetic Resonance Images that virtually divides brain into two bilaterally symmetric hemispheres. The block wise texture asymmetry is estimated for these hemispheres using the above 6 parameters.


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